Keystone mutualism influences forest tree growth at a landscape scale. (26th July 2019)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Keystone mutualism influences forest tree growth at a landscape scale. (26th July 2019)
- Main Title:
- Keystone mutualism influences forest tree growth at a landscape scale
- Authors:
- Clark, Robert Emerson
Gutierrez Illan, Javier
Comerford, Mattheau S.
Singer, Michael S. - Editors:
- Novotny, Vojtech
- Abstract:
- Abstract: Interactions between ants and phloem‐feeding herbivores are characterised as a keystone mutualism because they restructure arthropod communities and generate trophic cascades. Keystone interactions in terrestrial food webs are hypothesised to depend on herbivore community structure and bottom‐up effects on plant growth. Here, we tested this prediction at a landscape scale with a long‐term ant‐exclusion experiment on hickory saplings in the context of spatial variation in herbivore community structure and habitat quality. We quantified top‐down effects of ants, herbivore communities as well as abiotic factors impacting hickory shoot growth. We found that ants influenced shoot growth via strong, context‐dependent, compensatory effects, with clear cascading benefits only when phloem‐feeders were present and chewing herbivore abundance was high. By contrast, while several landscape variables predicted hickory growth, they did not mediate the strength of cascading effects of ants. These results suggest that ant/sap‐feeder mutualisms may regulate forest productivity by mediating effects of multiple herbivore guilds.
- Is Part Of:
- Ecology letters. Volume 22:Number 10(2019)
- Journal:
- Ecology letters
- Issue:
- Volume 22:Number 10(2019)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 22, Issue 10 (2019)
- Year:
- 2019
- Volume:
- 22
- Issue:
- 10
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2019-0022-0010-0000
- Page Start:
- 1599
- Page End:
- 1607
- Publication Date:
- 2019-07-26
- Subjects:
- Ants -- ant‐sap‐feeder mutualisms -- caterpillars -- ecosystem stability -- forest productivity -- keystone interactions -- keystone species -- mutualisms -- trophic cascades
Ecology -- Periodicals
577 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1461-023X&site=1 ↗
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1461-0248 ↗
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1111/ele.13352 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 1461-023X
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 3650.044200
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 22418.xml